NO GRACIAS! explain to me

Rob, your scolding tone w/Carol is misplaced.

Jeff, that's just how Southerners address each other on occasion. I'm sure Carol and I both can see the wry little smiles on each others faces while we address each other.

Until message boards incorporate VIDEO we'll just have to best guess each others' attitudes.

She never said Mexican vendors should know what Americans are used to. What she meant, I think, is that if they did understand, then they'd know why they sometimes get the curt response they do.

See? There you go wanting to make sense when making sense makes no sense.

The same might apply if tables were turned. Imagine a Mexican tourist visiting here in Minneapolis. At a restaurant he finds it rude and pushy that the waiter brings him the check as soon as he's finished his meal. The waiter (or owner) doesn't know that Mexicans are used to, shall we say, not being rushed to pay the bill, and wonder why the diner seems so upset. If they understood the cultural difference, they'd understand and maybe even try to handle things the way the customer is used to.

You want to run that scenario about the Mexican tourist in a posh Minneapolis restaurant past me again? First thing that's gonna happen is a dozen squad cars are gonna pull up with an ICE SWAT team with tasers drawn demanding to see their papers! The Mexican tourist would then lose their appetite and afterwards only order room service from their hotel.

Seems to me it should work both ways. Why should Americans be the only ones expected to understand cultural differences?

Is this a trick question?